An evaluation of DEMs derived from LiDAR and photogrammetry for wetland mapping

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) have been engaged in developing an efficient and accurate methodology for inventorying wetlands. Their progress in this area has demonstrated that Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are crucial input for wetland identification and boundary delineation. The provincial DEM, however, has known precision limitations in areas of minimal topographic relief that cause considerable mapping error. This study explored whether wetland mapping derived from bare-earth light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data would overcome the limitations of the provincial DEM. An automated wetland mapping approach was applied to the 2 elevation datasets and the results were compared using 2 methods of validation. One hundred aerial-photo-interpreted sample plots were used to quantitatively measure the ability of each source to separate upland from wetland. An overlay of wetland maps created from the 2 DEM sources was then qualitatively assessed to further clarify the magnitude of discrepancy between the 2 mapping sources. The study concluded that LiDAR showed a significant improvement at p = 0.05 over the provincial DEM for mapping wetlands, improving overall mapping accuracy from 76% to 84%. However, an overlay analysis and qualitative assessment showed the magnitude of this reported improvement is greater than was quantified by the accuracy assessment and that an assessment scheme with different sample units may further elucidate this discrepancy.